Gonzales-Joanna

History

Joanna typeface was designed by Eric Gill in 1931 and named for one of his daughters. Gill owned a printing shop, Hauge & Gill, where Joanna was first used on Gill’s book cover “Essay on Typography”. In 1937 it was licensed for public release by Monotype Corporation. Monotype added bold, semi-bold, and extra-bold styles to Joanna’s family.
It’s a transitional serif typeface. During the transitional classification period (1750-75), oldstyle forms were revamped due to the improvement in casting and printing. Transitional typefaces have exaggerated thick-to-thin strokes, more vertical alignment, and small sarif brackets.
Gill’s Joanna was inspired by Robert Granjon’s types. Joanna has been called “most engaging”, aside from Gill’s other typefaces. Gill himself calls it “a book face free from all fancy business”. There is an even color within the font when using it. The design is light and has tiny sarifs. The italicized version of Joanna is more vertical and less slanted. It has a roman appeal than cursive. Joanna has been known to have an assertive and elegant appearance; it is seen more in advertising and print.

Biography

Eric Rowton Gill (1882-1940)

In 1882 Eric Gill was born in Brighton, Sussex. When he was fifteen years old, his family moved to Chichester. He studied at the Chichester Technical and Art School and in 1990 moved to London where he trained to become an architect under the guidance of W.D. Caroe. However, things were not going so well for Gill. He attended evening classes in stonemason at Westminster Technical Institute and calligraphy at the Central School of Arts and Crafts because he was frustrated with his training. Edward Johnston, who created the typeface London Underground, was a great influence to Gill.

Frustrated at last, Gill abandoned his training as an architect in 1903 and focused on becoming a calligrapher, mason, and letter-cutter.

In 1904 he married Ethel Hester Moore and in 1907 move to Ditchling, Sussex with his family. They moved to Sopers, a house located there. A community of artists arose in Ditchling and in 1914 Gill began his relief sculptures of the Stations of the Cross for Westminster in London. Gill and members of the community formed The Guild of St. Joseph and St. Dominic in 1921.
Gill moved to Capel-y-ffin in Wales where he opened a workshop. In 1925 Gill designed the typeface Perpetua followed by Gill Sans (1927-30) and Joanna (1930-31). He designed a postage stamp for the Post Office (1937) and three bas-reliefs in stone artwork called The Creation of Adam (1938). Gill received the award of Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts. This award is the highest British award for designers.

Concept

My concept is going to be based on a magazine theme, since Joanna is used for ads and print. The magazine title is "Joanna" and a black/white silhouette of a woman could be used to represent "her". An article in the magazine could be something like 'Find Your Perfect Style' which would show the different styles the typeface Joanna comes in.